Homilies

If you weren’t here last weekend, I began my homily with a prayer to the Holy Spirit and invited everybody to join me in that prayer. This will be a regular thing with homilies going forward. So let’s all pray together, inviting the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts through my preaching this weekend. […]

When we were in Dallas for the Divine Renovation Conference just a few weeks ago, we heard a lot about the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit is kind of the forgotten person of the Trinity, especially in Catholic circles. They referred to a survey in which a lot of Catholics were asked, “Do

In the second reading today from the Letter to the Colossians, Saint Paul says something rather peculiar: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body which is the church.”  We know that Paul

I am so blessed to have become an uncle twice over in April and May. You may remember me talking a bit about my nephew, Inti, who was born to my sister Amy and her husband, Rommy, in April. My sister Julie gave birth to little Maggie Jane in May. I got to hold her

In a recent discussion with my mom and Dad, we were remarking how great YouTube is as a tool for learning. This came up because I had looked to YouTube for tips on how to better manage a dog pulling on its leash. There are so many useful how-to videos on that platform. You can

**Fr Tom began the homily by leaving the sanctuary for a short time**  Well, that was a bit weird, wasn’t it? That’s not the way I usually start a homily here. I bet some of you might have been wondering whether I was feeling OK. I don’t know exactly what was going on in your

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Okay, now, be honest.  When you just made the sign of the cross, was that an instinctive reaction, or were you really thinking of what you were doing? Too often, I think, we get into habits where we do things

On Memorial Day, I enjoyed some one-on-one uncle time with my new nephew, Inti. ‘Inti’ means ‘sun’ in Kitchwa, the native language of Ecuador, where his dad, Rommy, is from. It is a fitting name, as he has brought so much brightness into our lives! So it was super special when I got to cradle

My dad has always been a fan of movies that are based on true stories, and I have inherited this from him. The movie, Of Gods and Men is based on the true story of a group of Cistercian monks who lived and worked in Algeria until the late 90s. They lived peacefully with the

Many times at Confirmation Masses, I have seen bishops ask the Confirmandi questions, so I want to start by asking all of you a question. Don’t worry, it’s not a difficult one! All of you have seen pictures of the saints. What does a saint look like? I think it is easy to distance ourselves